Last week was too exhausting to do link roundups, so here’s a whole WEEK’S worth of clipped stories.

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§ SUPER PROCESS: Frank Santoro has been schooling folk on thenature of the panel grid. In part one, he describes how different comics cultures approach the grid:

There are lot’s of variations – I’m generalizing for sure – but this is what I see – not so many fixed grids in BD and manga as in North American comics, and consequently most BD and manga do not give up the center as much as NA comics. The influence of manga in the last 20 years in NA comics is definitely changing the situation.


In part two, he looks at how Chester Brown’s paneling evolved over the years:

Yummy Fur 20′s “Showing Helder” was the making of the Helder comic essentially; the drawing of it. And finally YF 21 would be Chester’s first longform auto-bio strip, The Playboy. To me, this is a rapid and remarkable development not only in content but in structure. Why? Because in three issues Chet abandons the fixed 6 panel grid that he has maintained for the entire five year run of the book – 18 issues – and replaces it with a more organic collaged sequencing using panels of a more varied shape.


Santoro compellingly shows how the 6-panel grid can be used to more effectively heighten pacing. Or as I always used to say — the longer you stay in a grid the more powerful it is when you break out.

§ Apparently there were gonzo fans even before the internet, as the contents of a planned George Herriman sketchbook have been found to be the work of a fan:

We are sorry to announce that several experts have confirmed that what we thought was a sketchbook of early versions of several years’ worth ofKrazy Kat strips created by George Herriman — and had planned to publish as such — is almost certainly the work of a very intense (perhaps contemporary with Herriman?) fan who diligently, even maniacally, copied each new strip into his sketchbook over a period of three years.

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§ Remember how we were talking about how great Dave Cockrum’s character designs the other day? Well here’s Brian Cronin with
Top Ten Dave Cockrum Costume Designs.

§ An interview with Mark Zaid, curator of the “Superheroes in Court! Lawyers, Law and Comic Books” art exhibit currently running.

§ Sean Kleefeld always has some good posts, but given our focus, this is the one we’ll link to: “The Hero Who Could Be You… As Long As You’re A White Male”

§ Is meeting Alan Moore akin to a religious experience? Trese thinks so.

It felt like I was in front of Ozymandias, listening to his master plan on how to take over the world. If he floated off the ground, it would’ve felt like being in the presence of Dr. Manhattan.

“I assume you all know who I am and that’s why you’re here,” Alan Moore said. “Unless there’s someone in the back who came in here thinking, `I thought we were going to see that guy from Die Hard! No? He’s not Alan Rickman?`”

201010181303.jpg§ Another old NYCC link, but Whitney Matheson’s “Five awesome comics I found at New York Comic Con” are all worthy of attention, including KING, left.

§ Confrontational bloggerwriter meets confrontational cartoonist.

§ Not comics: It is a pleasure to watch a girl become a young woman wizard before our eyes.

1 COMMENT

  1. Kevin Church is Likes-to-Fight-Guy. It’s not so much honest opinions as it is him trying to rile people up. While I’m not a fan of Bernard Chang’s artwork going back to Dr. Mirage, he is an extremely cool guy.

    Anyway, speaking of honest opinions, even though I don’t enjoy speaking to Frank Santoro, his lessons on comic structure are always fascinating. He’s a wealth of knowledge.

    Speaking of Heidi’s knowledge…I *finally* began reading Y the Last Man. As good as Vaughn is, I think the book shows very good editorial guidance.